[URBAN NOTE] "Liberal committee chair eyes making City of Ottawa officially bilingual"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail carries Joanna Smith's Canadian Press article. In theory, I've nothing at all against the idea of making the national capital bilingual.

Liberal MP Denis Paradis thinks it sounds obvious enough: Canada is an officially bilingual country, so its national capital should be too.

“I do think that it would be a good thing that Ottawa shows that there are two official languages in the country,” Paradis, who represents the Quebec riding of Brome-Missisquoi, said in an interview.

That’s why he would like to raise the idea with colleagues on the House of Commons standing committee on official languages, which he chairs, when MPs return to Parliament Hill next week.

The notion of making Ottawa officially bilingual — which Paradis says would not involve changing any federal laws — is one that has come and gone and come again over the decades.

It has sparked passionate debates between those who want stronger protections for the rights of the minority French-speaking community in Ottawa and those who fear it would cost too much and further restrict access to jobs in a city where bilingualism is already a frequent requirement for a job in the federal government.